Scripture Daily

Context No. 855 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 7:1-17: in context

1LORD, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, 2lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver. 3LORD, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, 4if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have plundered him who without cause was my adversary), 5let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah. 6Arise, LORD, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment. 7Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them on high. 8The LORD administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, LORD, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me. 9Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God. 10My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. 11God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day. 12If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow. 13He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows. 14Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood. 15He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made. 16The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head. 17I will give thanks to the LORD according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

Psalm 7 is David's prayer under slander, hunted by people who, he says, would tear his soul like a lion with no one to rescue. And what he does with the false accusation is instructive. He does not spend the psalm frantically listing his defenses to the crowd. He takes the matter to God, and he does something bold: he opens himself to examination. O LORD my God, if I have done this, he prays, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid evil to one at peace with me, then let the enemy pursue me and overtake me and trample my life into the dust. He is so sure of his innocence in this charge that he invites the worst consequences if he is lying. A clear conscience can afford to be examined.

From there he simply hands the case to the right court. Arise, O LORD, he prays; judge me according to my righteousness and the integrity that is in me, for God is a righteous judge who tests the minds and hearts. He is not claiming to be sinless in general; he is asking the God who sees the truth to sort out this false charge, because he trusts that judge more than he trusts his own efforts to clear his name before people. And he notes, almost in passing, how the schemer's evil tends to come home: the one who digs a pit falls into the pit he made, his mischief returning on his own head. David does not need to engineer that; he leaves it to God, and ends the psalm not defending himself but giving thanks. When you are falsely accused, there is a kind of rest in appealing past the courtroom of public opinion to the one Judge who actually knows.

Falsely accused, David invited God's examination and left his vindication to the righteous Judge, instead of exhausting himself clearing his name. When I am accused unfairly, do I frantically defend myself before everyone, or can I open myself to God's scrutiny and entrust the verdict to him?

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